Journey of the Fox
by Lenard
Summary: Shippo wonders the land on his after the battle against Naraku ends sadly with no winner. Naraku may have died but so have Inuyasha and his companions. What will the future hold for Shippo as he searches for his destiny.
1. The Village, the Demon, and the Sword

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything even remotely related to InuYasha.**

**Chapter I: The Village, the Demon, and the Sword.**

"Who is that?" one of the walking villagers asked to herself. The person she was referring to was a person that kept his or her appearence hidden. This person was covered in a large raggy peice of cloth that looked all torn, and looked as if multiple peices of cloth were sown together. The mysterious person continued walking through the village. But as he was walking he was stopped by a person in a suit of armor with four others following along.

"You're not from this village aren't you?" the man in armor asked. The person in rags said nothing. "This village has been under a demon watch ever since the previous night when a demon attempted to attack the village." the man in armor said. The mysterious person once again said nothing.

"The point is, I am requesting that you remove that hood of yours. We don't want anyone in the village hiding themselves or it might raise suspicion." Once again, the person said nothing, still standing in front of the man in armor. The armored man started to get impatient after the person in front of him wouldn't respond.

"Did you not hear me, I said remove your hood!" the armored man yelled in anger. He took the liberty of removing the persons hood for him, and let it drop to the back of the persons head as he looked into the face of the person in raggy clothing. The demon had very long red auburn colored hair that cover a lot of his face including his right eye. His other eye was clearly visable, his pupils were green. He did not show such a happy face either, quite the opposite. He had a cold glare as he was looking at the human in armor.

"D-demon!" the armored man said unsheathing his sword and pointing it straight at the demons face. The expression in the face of the demon did not change.

"Surround him men, do not let this demon escape!" he commanded. The other men in armor started around the demon and they stood their distance around the demon, also taking out their weapons and pointing then at the demon. As that happened, residents of the village started to gather to watch the commosion that was being made.

"What do we do with him boss, do we kill him?" one of the men asked.

"That would probably be the safest thing to do for all of our sakes." the general said.

"Supposivly because I am a demon is that true?" the demon in rags finally spoke making everyone force their eyes on the demon.

"So you speak after all demon." the general said.

"I thought it would be the right time to, since you're making a big mistake." the demon said.

"You're just saying that demon because we know you don't want to be killed." the general taunted.

The demon smirked, "Heh, don't make me laugh; demons fear nothing. I just find it stupid that you would kill a demon you've never seen before and just assume that this demon caused trouble with in a village just because he was passing through. Have you actually ever seen me commit any acts of destruction, I don't think so, since we just met moments ago."

"For all we know you could have hidden yourself and tryed to escape so no one would know it was you." the general remarked.

"Oh spare me, if I wanted to destroy this village, I could of very well of done so right now, and none of you would be able to stop me." The demon I am going to only warn you once right now, if you try to kill me, I am going to have to strike back. If you let me be, I will leave the village and you will never see me again."

The general didn't take very long to think about it and shouted, "This is just one of your demon tricks! Men, attack him!" After the command was given, the men surrounding the demon began to charge at the demon.

"Too ignorant for their own good." The demon said jumping easily all the soldiers and landing in front of the general.

"De-demon! Stand back!" the general said holding up his sword and swinging it at the demon. The demon simply put up his arm up and the end of the sword broke off.

"You're pathetic, did I not just tell you that I would leave in peace. Apparently you're stupidity knows no bounds and I'll have to put you in your place." The demon said holding back his fist ready to strike. The demon then threw his fist at the general and punched him directly above the generals stomach and sent him flying on his back. Once the general waas down the other soldiers begun running over to the demon that struck their general. When the demon heard their movements he simply waved his hand up and blue fire appeared between the demon and the soldiers forcing them to step back to avoid being burnt. After being knocked to the ground the general stood back up and instantly inspected his wound. He discovered that only his armor was the only part that took damage to the demons punch.

"Of course I could of done a lot more damage, but if you are willing to let me go I will leave without out a fight." the demon said walking closer to the general sitting on the ground.

"_I fear that this demon isn't lying about his strength, as long as he's willing to go, It would probably be best otherwise there could be a fight where the villagers could be involved._" the general got back up from the ground sheathing his sword, "All right demon, you may pass as long as you do no such harm to the other villagers."

"About time" the demon said finally proceeding his walk through the village, but stopped when he was side by side with the general.

"Not all demons are this forgiving, remember that human." the demon said and then continued his walk out of the village.

The general walked in the opposite direction of the demon, "Men withdraw, the demon is leaving the village with no harm to anyone." he said.

---

The demon was out of the village and now walking in a large open field. The demon had no intention of stopping and continued walking forward.

"Well, that was quite a preformance back there Shippo." the demon heard a voice turning his head around to see who was speaking.

"Over here." the demon looked to his left then looked down at his shoulder to see a flee.

"My-Myoga? Is that you?" the demon asked.

"Do you know any other demon fleas?" Myoga asked jokingly.

"Well actually your to be bride of whom you just happened to run away from at the last second." the demon said.

"Well aren't we the smart one." Myoga joked once again.

"Whatever, what do you want?" Shippo questioned.

"Well I've been trying to track you down for a while ever since lady Kaede's passing." Myoga said.

"Why's that?" Shippo asked.

"Well no reason in particular, I just wanted to see what you were up to since, well, you know..." Myoga tried to explain.

"There's nothing to tell." Shippo said walking through the field.

"Well there has to be something, you couldn't of just spent all of these years alone doing nothing but pick fights with humans like I saw in the village." Myoga said.

"You're such a nuisence, I don't have to tell you anything." Shippo said flicking Myoga off his shoulder, "Besides that wasn't a fight, I was just speaking the truth. You better not plan on bothering me again if that's all you want to know." Myoga got up from where he was flicked, stood up and looked at the fox demon that was walking away.

"_Has Shippo truly not gotten over the passing of his friends?_" the flea thought to himself, "_Then again I can't blame him really, they were like family to him. They took him in when he had no one else to go to and protected him with their lives._"

Shippo stopped in his tracks looking around the field, "I can sense a demon nearby." he alerted himself and stood in the field waiting for the demon to show up. As moments passed by, the ground started to rumble like a miniature earthquake. Shippo stood his ground as a large snake like demon appeared.

"Fox demon, why have you trespassed on my territory?" the large snake demon asked.

"Your territory?" Shippo asked.

"Yes, any land beyond this point belongs to the Soshi-zoku. Anyone that dares passes this territory will be killed." the snake demon said.

"Soshi-zoku? Yeah well I really have no intrest in them, I'm just passing through." Shippo said.

"If you want to pass you will have to go through me." the snake demon said blowing fire from his mouth. Shippo jumped out of the way to avoid the fire. The demon then started spitting out multiple fireballs at Shippo as he continued to dodge them. Shippo started to charge at the demon at full speed, the snake demon continued to spit fireballs at Shippo but he was able to out run them. Shippo stuck out his hand with his fox fire beginning to surround it. Once he was up to the demon he struck him with his claws of fire. The demon screamed in pain and Shippo jumped back. The demon quickly looked down at Shippo and blew out a wave of fire in Shippo's direction. Shippo jumped back to avoid the fire, but the ragged cloak he was wearing got caught in the fire and started burning up quickly. Shippo quickly clawed the cloak to shreds before it could burn his clothing. His clothing consisted of just a plain dark blue kimono top and black pants to go with it. Myoga watching the battle from a far saw something very interesting about Shippo as he looked at the sword that was attached to his waist.

"Is that really what I think that is, is that really the Tessaiga!?" Myoga was very suprised to see that Shippo was now the one that now possesses Inuyasha's once treasured Tessaiga. The demon blew another wave of fire in Shippo's direction and this time Shippo was about to out run it as he charged for the snake demon once again. Shippo charged at the demon with all of his speed and lunged through the demon with his claws out right through his body that was just below his head nearly decapitating the snake demon. After Shippo landed back on the ground on the other side of the snake, he timbered to the ground in death and defeat.

"That was simple." Shippo said continuing his walk to the end of the field where there was a small forest.

"Shippo there is now something I want to ask you." Myoga said hoping once again on Shippo's left shoulder.

"I suppose you're wondering why I carry the Tessaiga, correct?" Shippo guessed correctly.

"Precisely." Myoga replied, "How is it possible that you have the Tessaiga in your possession?"

"Truthfully, I really don't have a clue." Shippo said, "I was able to retrieve it after the battle was over."

--- _Flashback _---

_Shippo was sobbing his heart out at the scene of the battle where his friends fought the sick and twisted half demon known as Naraku. They were able to defeat them but Naraku must of used his final powers to make sure that everyone suffered the consequences. A large portion of the ground was covered in complete darkness off what looked like an explosion. _

_Shippo was sitting by the large circled dark area of the ground with his hands to his teary eyes, "Why.. why did it.. have to end.. like this? None of them.. none of them deserved this.. They finally.. get rid of Naraku.. but they had.. to go with him.. to do so... It's just.. it's just not fair.." After the amount of crying Shippo did the sun was nearly setting. Shippo stood up with his legs wobbly from being on the ground for so long. _

_"I suppose I should go back to the village, I might have to stay with Kaede for the time being. It's not like I have anywhere else to go." even after all of the crying Shippo did he still could not stop the tears from forming in his eyes. Slowly, he began heading back torward the village once again. As he walked back to the village he stepped on something that felt different. He wiped away his tears and looked down to see what he stepped on. _

_"It's.. it's the.. Tessaiga.. it survived.." Shippo was sadly astonished. He bent down and picked up the handle of the sword and began to drag it with him. _

_"I should probably.. take this with me.. I'm pretty sure the sheath is around here too.. I will look for that and head back._

--- _End Flashback _---

"They were the only things I could find at the battle sight. I couldn't even find Kagome's bow, or Miroku's staff, or Sango's Hirakotsu. I couldn't even find the Shikon Jewel; I figured that the Shikon Jewel must of been destroyed with Naraku. There was only one survivor of the battle and that is Sesshomaru. That's all I know about the battle."

"I am curious in why the barrier of Tessaiga doesn't affect you Shippo." Myoga said, "You were able to grab the Tessaiga by the hilt without being damaged."

"I thought it was because I was a weak kid and I couldn't do anything with the sword, but for some reason even now I am able to hold on to the Tessaiga, but I cannot access the power with in." Shippo said, "Anyway I guess I should continue onwards. I guess it's all right if you come along or not Myoga, it's up to you." he said as he began to step into the small forest and proceed forward on his own journey.

**Chapter one everyone to my new story. I hope you enjoyed it, see yaz.**


	2. Lightning Strikes

**Chapter II: Lightning Strikes**

"Shippo, how is it that you know Lord Sesshomaru survived the battle?" Myoga asked.

"When I was at the battle grounds the scent of Sesshomaru shown that he was able to escape from whatever it is that Naraku did." Shippo said.

"So have you actually ever seen Lord Sesshomaru?" Myoga asked.

"No, but that's because we are no kind of relation, and I have no idea where he lives." Shippo said.

"Ah, well, I guess that makes sense." Myoga said, "By the way where are we going anyway?"

"That way." Shippo said.

"Uh.. can you be a bit more specific?" Myoga asked.

"Not really, this is what I always do." Shippo said.

"Is this what you've been doing this whole time?" Myoga asked.

"I also train, learning new ways to use my abilities and all of that, is that a problem?" Shippo questioned.

"Well uh, I guess not." Myoga said.

"Tell me something Myoga, have you see Sesshomaru at all?" Shippo asked.

"Why are you asking?" Myoga asked, "Didn't you say you have nothing to do of Lord Sesshomaru?"

"Just answer the question." Shippo said annoyed.

"Well, yes I have seen him recently. He spends most of his time in his castle or watching over his lands." Myoga said, "Why do you ask, Shippo?"

"Not that it's any of your concern, but I might have to pay him a visit." Shippo said entering the forest.

"I'm guessing it has to do with the battle?" Myoga asked.

"Something like that, all right, you can go now." Shippo said flicking Myoga off his shoulder once again. "I might as well save you the cowardess act and let you go now. There are some demons up ahead that I may need to fight." he said continuing ahead through the forest."

Myoga got up on a plate of grass rubbing his head, "Well he didn't have to flick me off like that..."

---

After minutes of walking through the forest, Shippo could sense the demons getting closer, and he was ready for battle. He stopped in his tracks and flexed his hands as the demons drew near.

"If these demons are anything like the one I just fought, then all the more easier to get through." Shippo said. As soon as he said that he saw a demon walking from behind a large tree from a distance. This demon was in a human like form with black hair down to his back. He wore black colored armor with yellow lining. The only parts that weren't covered in armor was his head and hands.

"So you're the one who killed on of our brothers." the demon in armor spoke.

"Our?" Shippo questioned, "Are you talking about that Soshi-what's-it group?"

"Soshi-Zoki you imbecile." the demon said, "Really though, I don't really care that you killed that weakling, he was bound to get himself killed anyway."

"Okay, so you're not after me for revenge, then why are you after me?" Shippo asked calmly.

"After you killed one of our brothers you were instantly deemed a threat to us, so I was sent to get rid of you." the demon said.

"Hmmm, so I guess you're wanting a fight." Shippo said.

"Not so much. I don't really expect a fight, just a quick demise will do." the demon said holding out his fingers. One lightning bolt shot out of each finger with tremendous speed. Shippo didn't have much tie to get out of the way, and jumped at any direction to avoid the bolt.

"Didn't see that one coming." Shippo said to himself.

"Quite impressive." the lightning demon said. Shippo began charging at the demon as the demon continued to shoot bolts of lightning at him. This time Shippo was aware of the speed of the attacks and was able to dodge each one. As soon as Shippo got close to him, his hand started glowing blue and flung his hand at the demon attempting to hit, but the demon was able to jump out of the way before a wave of blue ghostly fire appeared from his hand.

"Missed." Shippo said.

"Ah a fire type like our brother was." the armored demon said. Shippo attempted another assault on the lightning demon, charging after him once again. This time the lightning demon charged at Shippo for an attack. Shippo held out his blue firey fist and swung it at the demon. The demon charged forward at Shippo and grabbed his arm, stopping Shippo's attack. Shippo held up his other arm to go for another attack. Before Shippo could try to attack, the armored demon quickly shot up his fist, and uppercutted Shippo in the chin cause him to fly back and into the ground.

"Damn, that hurt." Shippo said sitting up and rubbing his chin. The armored demon held out one of his fingers at Shippo, shooting another bolt of lightning at Shippo. Shippo quickly rolled out of the way and jumped back up on his feet. The demon was time held out his hand and an orb of lightning starting rotating in his palm. Shippo charged at the demon once again. The armored demon released his attack, the lightning in his palm shot out as a beam of pure lightning going even fast then his lightning bolts. Shippo tried to quickly dive out of the way, but was hit in by the beam of lightning in his arm. Shippo fell to the ground holding onto his arm in pain.

"That really hurt." he growled in pain.

"This is too easy." the demon said holding out his palm, "Just one more of these and you're done." The lighting in his palm once again formed into a rotating sphere of lightning. Before the demon could release his attack Shippo quickly stood back up, still holding on to his injured arm. When the demon released his beam of lightning, Shippo quickly escaped the attack without any hits. It was Shippo's turn to fight back. Shippo charged at the armored demon, not holding on to his injured arm anymore. He dug into his pocket with in his shirt and threw out seven leaves. As soon as the leaves were in the air, smoke popped out around all of the leaves. As soon as the smoke was gone, eight different Shippo's were charging at the lightning demon.

"What sort of trickery is this?" the demon wondered. The lightning demon held out all ten fingers, facing the multiple Shippo's and lightning shot out from all of his fingers. The Shippo's continued to run at the lightning demon as the lightning was going towards them. Most of the Shippo's were hit and turned back into leaves. There was only one remaining Shippo that was still running at the lightning demon. The lightning demon shot out more lightning bolts at Shippo, but he was able to dodge them. As soon as Shippo got close he tried for a punch with his good arm. The armored demon ducked his punch and stuck out his palm at Shippo, and shot out a stronger lightning bolt from his palm, and shot right through Shippo. As soon as the bolt shot through Shippo, a cloud of smoke appreared and a leaf fell out of the smoke and onto the ground.

"What!? That wasn't him!?" The armored demon roared.

"Looks like you missed me." Shippo said. The demon quickly turned around, and was uppercutted just as Shippo was by him previously; except this time his chin got burned because of Shippo fiery first. The demon was in the air from being hit and Shippo jumped up into the sky above him. As soon as he was right above the armored demon he transformed as smoke shot out of where was. In the instant the smoke appeared, a large boulder fell quickly from the cloud of smoke and fell right on the armored demon with great speed and continued falling with the demon at the bottom until they collided into the ground with a large thump. A small crater was created where the boulder crashed the demon into the ground. Smoke shot out from where the boulder was and Shippo jumped out of the smoke that quickly dissipated. Shippo looked into the small crater to see the lightning demon faced down in the dirt. After that attack Shippo knew he was still alive after that, but he didn't know whether to kill him or wait to fight him again. Shippo wasn't sure why, but he just decided to sit down by the crater and decided to see what the lightning demon would do next. After a minute or so Shippo saw something glow yellow in the small crater. He assumed it was just the demon starting to wake up; Shippo stood up in case of an attack. Shippo watched closely as the yellow glow got a little brighter with each passing second. All of a sudden after a few seconds, the yellow then started to shrink rapidly until it was gone. Shippo was baffled of what that yellow glow was and why it disappeared all of a sudden. Shippo decided to see closely what was going on, and jumped inside of the crater. Shippo walked over to the demon still laying face down on the floor. As soon as Shippo was near the armored demon, the demon quickly spun around and shot his lightning beam right at Shippo. Shippo had no time at all to dodge this attack for him being too close. Shippo was hit and the beam went right through his stomach. After the attack was done Shippo fell backwards, to the ground holding his wound with both arms, even his injured one.

"You fell for it, not a very smart move to get close." the armored demon said. He jumped back up on the ledge of the crater and looked down at the fox demon in pain.

"I'll make sure that your finished this time." he said holding up his arms. His entire body started to glow a bright yellow as the lightning surged around him. Clouds started to form in one particular area in the sky. More clouds began forming into one dark cloud. The dark cloud started to surge with lightning that was visable to the naked eye, just as the lightning demon was also surrounded in electricity.

"Incinerate the demon my thunder cloud!" the armored demon yelled throwing his arms down. Right after the demon threw his arms down, very large bolts of lightning shot down from the dark cloud at very rapid speeds. All of the bolts of lightning were each wrapping around each other all going to strike in the same area.

"_Argh, I can move, it hurts too much._" Shippo thought in his mind, "_It seems like.. this is the end. Maybe I'll be able to reunite with.. my family."_ still in pain from the large, bloody hole in his stomach. The large amounts of energy bolts all struck within the small crater where Shippo was suffering in pain. There was a very bright flash as the lightning struck the crater that could have been seen for miles. The lightning was cutting through the ground as well as parts of the walls of the crater, causing several parts of the ground from around the crater to fall apart and with in. The lightning ceased after a few seconds, and the whole crater was much wider than it was when Shippo made it. It also seemed to be a bit deeper, but more shallow at the same time from all of the extra ground that fell, and created a giant hill from where Shippo was once laying.

"Feh, it seems like my lightning was able to create a barial as well as destroy you." the demon said looking into the enlarged crater, "You were able to get a few shots off of me, but other than that you were nothing but a weakling. My job is done here." He began walking away from the direction he came to meet the fox demon.

**Chapter two complete! Sorry about being late with the update. Last week my family came from Wisconsin for a visit! It was sweet. Anyway I plan to get in a new chapter every week. As soon as summer comes, oh there will be so much updating done with all of my stories. And coming this summer, a new story! About the greatest character in the history of gaming, Mario! Writing stories are awesome, and that will be my first non-Shippo story, and about my favorite game character of all time. Alright everyone, see yaz!**


	3. A Helping Hand

**Chapter III: A Helping Hand**

"Ugh, what happened?" Shippo softly said to himself laying on the ground. Shippo put his hands on the ground and forced himself on his feet. Once Shippo got up, he began to look at his surroundings. The instant Shippo set his eyes at his location he began looking left, then right, then did a 360 spin, looking in every direction he could think of, even up and down.

"Where am I?" Shippo said as his voice carried out in an echo. Everywhere that Shippo saw was all the same thing and the exact color of white. It appeared as if he was in an infinite void, that looked as if he were to move, he would be going no where. He couldn't even separate the ground from the sky, if there was even a sky.

"This doesn't make any sense, is this really real?" Shippo wondered. He tried to think of how he could of possibly ending up in this strange place.

"Of course, that battle I was in." he said thinking of what happened just before he came here, "I was on the ground in severe injuries and then I was struck with what I think was his most powerful attack. That must mean, I must of.. passed on to the afterlife." Shippo looked around a second time to see if there was anything else here, "Is this really the afterlife, it's just.. so plain." he thought of all the possibilities this place could be, he sat down to think about it, since he wasn't going anywhere. After thinking about where he was, he started to think about what was going to happen to him. Suddenly a shining light appeared not to far from him. Shippo had to quickly look away from the light to prevent being blinded, but slowly turned back to look at the light with his arms over his head and his eyes mostly closed.  
"What's going on?" he said to himself still looking at the blinding light. As his eye's became more adjusted to the light but he still needing his arm for coverage. Shippo couldn't believe what he was seeing. Inside the light he could see his friends, all of them talking to one another.

"It's really them, that must be the place I need to go." he said and began walking over to the light. Shippo stopped once he was right infront of the light. He was able to look in the light normally now without the use of covering part of his eyes. He stood there for a moment, taking in everything that was going to happen to him. He would be able to see everyone again, his friends, his family, he would be with them forever. He was about to step in, but then everything around him started to get darker and darker.

"Now wha-" all of a sudden, he started falling. As he was falling he could still see the light above him.

"Wha- what is this, why am I falling!?" he started to panic as he fell looking up at the light that seemed to shrink as he fell further and further from the light.

"No.. don't tell me I'm going.. to the other place." Shippo started to get so freightened of the idea that he started to feel light headed, and eventually fainted while falling.

---

Shippo was just regaining consciousness as he was laying on the ground. He slowly began to open his eyes, his eyes began to squint as his eyes were opening. After that he was able to open them a little faster due to it being mostly dark where he was. Once his eyes were completely opened, his vision had to take a second or two to focus correctly. As his eyes were focusing he could see a face that looked very familiar to him looking down at him.

"Ka- Kagome?" he said.

"Kagome?" the girl responded. After a second Shippo's vision was clear, and even though the girl looked similar to Kagome, he knew it wasn't her.

"Sorry, you look like someone I knew." he said trying to get up, but then a pain in his stomach caused him to lay back down, covering his pained stop with his arm.

"You shouldn't be moving around." the girl said, "You're injuries are very serious." Shippo looked down at his body and saw that was without a shirt, covered in muliple bandages from his lower chest to his stomach all the way down to his waist, and his right bicep to his shoulder was also covered in bandages.

"What's going on, where am I?" he asked the girl.

"We're in a cave, I found you barried under a hill of rocks and dirt inside a large hole in the ground. That must of been some battle you had." she explained.

"_Barried under rocks and soil in a hole in the ground.. that sounds like what happened at the battle. That must mean.. I'm still alive?_" he thought, "_That can't be possible, with an attack like that, Sesshomaru, defenseless, wouldn't of survived that._"

"How did you find me?" he asked the girl, "I know you found in that crater I left, but how did you find under all of that ruble?"

"Well, um okay, I'll explain from the beginning." she said.

_--- Flashback ---_

"Hmm, I'm starting to get hungry." the girl said walking through the village, "I wonder if there's a place around here to get some food." she continued to walk around the village trying to look for a place to buy some food, until she felt an unusual disturbance. She quickly turned her head and looked outside of the village to see clouds gather in one particular area in the sky, not to far from the village.

"It looks like there's a storm comming in." one of the elderly villagers said to another.

"We should probably prepare for the storm." the villager replied back.

"_That doesn't look like any ordinary storm, something's wrong here._" she thought, "_I should go check this out for the villagers sake._" she made her decision, and began running toward the area of the darkening group of clouds.

---

She was out of the village, and about to enter a clear area of grass. She looked up at the storm cloud and she saw one large dark cloud. Streaks of lightning were visable around and with in the cloud. She continued her run at the area of the dark, electric cloud. All of a sudden, an enormous jolt of lightning shot out with great speed from the dark cloud. The light from the large amount of electric energy was bright enough make her turn away, even from that distance. She tried to get a glance at the it with her arm covered over the top of her eyes.

"So much power!" she said glancing at the numerous lightning bolts being being released at once from one large cloud. After the lightning stopped, the sky began to immediatly clear at a slow rate.

"It's.. gone?" the girl wondered. She still wanted to check on the area of where the lightning struck, and she began running once again. She reached a forest, and ran past the numerous trees. After a minute of running through the forest, she finally reached the area where the lightning struck.

"Woah." she said in amazement. When she sound the area where the lightning struck, she saw a very large hole in the ground, and inside the large hole was a large pile of dirt and rocks. There were also trees in the area that were struck by the lightning, and even some that looked like they were cut down, and some that looked as if they were torn off. The girl continued to look at the hole in the ground.

"With the lightning striking the ground with that much power, how was it able to not cause any kind of fire?" she wondered. After being trapped in her thoughts about the mysterious lightning, she started to sense someone, but it was hard to tell where this person was. She felt the presence comming from the large crater. She looked all around from above the crater, but couldn't find anyone.

"Hello, anyone down there?" she said. After no one answered, she decided to slide in along the sides of the crater. She almost hit the hill of soil and rocks, but jumped at the last second onto the little bit of ground that wasn't burried. She knew now where the presence was comming from since she was much closer.

"Someone's burried under here...it's a demon too." she said to herself. She wondered fi she should help the demon or not. She knew that not all demons were horribe, and she figured that if this demon tried to attack he's probably of been easy to fight, or he's too weak to fight. So with that in mind, she decided to get the demon out of there. She drew out her sword and pointed it at the rocks. A wave of blue energy shot out of the sword, and hit the dirt and rock pile directly. A lot of the dirt was discinegrated, and some of the dirt and rocks were sent away from the once pile of ruble and were hit against the wall. She looked down to see the head of a demon stic out of the dirt that was still covering the demon. She went closer to him to feel his heart beat.

"Amazing, he's still alive, but unconscious." she said sweeping of the dirt still covering his body. She jumped with freight when she uncovered the spot that had his stomach wound.

"This wound is really serious, he could die of blood loss if I don't treat him quickly." she said lefting his left arm over her shoulders, and pulling him up, "I better find a place to get out of the open; his scent could attract more demons."

--- _End Flashback _---

"So you helped a complete stranger, even more, a demon? Why would you do that?" he asked.

"Not all demons are vicious, even if you were, you're too hurt to move." she said.

Shippo sighed, "Whatever." knowing she was right, It hurt just to try and sit up.

"So how did you survive that attack, I saw how much energy was in it, did it miss you, how did it happen, was it another demon?" the girl kept asking and asking.

"Not that it's any of your business, but it was just another demon showing how tough he was." he said, "Hey, do you know anything about the Soshi-Zoku?"

"The what?" she asked.

"I guess not, nevermind." he said.

"No, tell me what you mean." she said.

He sighed, "Fine, these demons have been attacking me saying they were all apart of this group called the Soshi-Zoku. I was able to beat one that was easy, then this guy comes along and nearly kills me, and he was also apart of that group."

"Well, I never heard of them before. They don't sound very good either." she said.

"Well duh. If I find out more about them, I'm going to find that guy again and get back at him for what he did to me." he said.

"Well that's reckless, going back to the enemy just to end up getting killed." she said.

"Gee, thanks for the support." he said.

"Look, you're not going anywhere until your wounds are healed. For a demon like you it will probably only take about a day or two. We should probably get some rest now." she said.

"Rest?" he questioned, he lifted his head up a little and looked outside of the cave, "It's already night, how long was I out?"

"A few hours." she said, "we'll be safe here for the night, and then we'll see what happens tomorrow, I'm tired, so I'm going to sleep now." She crawled only a few feet away from Shippo, and rested herself on the ground. She had two blankets set up in her spot using one as a pillow. She tossed a third blanket over to Shippo,

"You can use my extra blanket, sorry that's the only other one I have." she said resting her head on her pillow, and pulling her blanket over her shoulders, "good night."

Shippo didn't bother responding, "_Who does she think she is, one of my friends. She acts like she's traveling with me or something._" he sighed, and put the blanket the girl gave him and put it under his head, "_I might as well rest up anyway._"

**If you've read my other stories, and actually read this chapter, I think you can guess who this is. But it's not what it looks like...as far as I know, I don't know. You'll just have to keep reading. See yaz!**


	4. A Cave of Questions

**Chapter IV: A Cave of Questions**

The girl began to wake up from a nights sleep after helping the fox demon with his injuries he recieved from the fight with the lightning demon. She sat up, yawned, and stretched her arms out, still feeling half asleep. She turned to where the demon has been sleeping. She was suprised to see that the blanket that she let him use was the only thing she saw and instantly woke up.

"He's gone!" she exclaimed, "Don't tell me that he actually left in the middle of the night. He could be killed easily with his injuries." she said grabbing her armor and sword and began running to the exit of the cave. When she ran out of the cave she started to look around the grass and forest. She noticed that it was darker than it should be in the day and looked up to see large grayish clouds covering the sky.

"What's your hurry?" she jumped at the sudden voice and turned around to see Shippo sitting on the ground against the cave next to the entrance.

"Wow, you're still here." she said looking down at him sitting on the ground.

"Apparently so." he said, "Were you just about to go look for me?"

"Well, I treated you wounds, and with you leaving would of been dangerous." she said.

"I don't really see why you care, don't concern yourself with me."

She decided to ignore his last statement, "Anyway, why are you out here, it looks like it's going to rain any minute now."

"Just needed air, that's all." he replied.

The girl shivered, "Kind of cold out here." she mumbled to herself, "Do you think we could go back in the cave, theres some things I want to ask."

"Like?" he said.

"Well, it's about Kagome, you mentioned her earlier." she said.

"What do you know about her, I never saw you with her before." he said. A rain drop fell from the sky and onto Shippo's head. He looked up and just as the girl predicted, it began to rain.

"Can we please just talk about this inside the cave." she asked once again.

He sighed, "Fine." With a little bit of a struggle, he pushed himself off of the ground and then walked inside of the cave with the girl following behind him. The girl sat down at her sleeping spot and wrapped herself with one of her blankets.

"Well if we're going to do this, I get to ask you a question or two too." he said.

"Um, I guess that's fair." she said.

"Just tell me how you know Kagome; did you know anyone else that may have been with her?" he asked.

"As you may be aware of, I am only human." she began saying, "so when I first met with Kagome and her friends I was only a child. I remember with her there four others. There was two humans, a man and a women; then I remember with the women was a small white demon cat with her. With Kagome there was another on her shoulders, he was a small demon and had a big puffy looking tail." Shippo knew exactly who she was talking about with her minimal descriptions, but he wondered how she knew about them. He took a moment to think at a time where he may have seen a human girl child with them before. After a moment it finally came to him.

"Wait, were you with Jaken at the time, you're that girl of Sesshomaru's aren't you?" Shippo asked.

"Y-yeah, how did you know?" the girl asked.

"I was with Kagome at the time. I was the demon with Kagome." he admitted. The girl began to scan the demon with her eyes from head to toe.

"Wow, you grew." she said.

"Well after 65 years I sure hope so." he said.

"65 years!?" the girl exclaimed.

"When you met with our group I was around 50 at the time." he explained.

"Well, I don't think we've properly introduced ourselves." she said holding out her hand, "I'm Rin." Shippo didn't bother raising his hand to shake hers.

"Shippo." he bluntly said. Rin put down her hand after seeing he wouldn't shake her hand.

"You think with hanging around with a pretty girl like Kagome you would of learn some manners." she said.

"You think hanging around a prideful demon like Sesshomaru you wouldn't care about friendly introductions." he responded.

"He's not that cruel." she protested.

"Yeah, like all of the times he tried to kill his brother over his fathers precious sword." he said.

"Well he never killed him in the end right?" she said.

"Well sure maybe not by him but..." he stopped talking as soon as he realized where he was going with this argument.

"...but what?" the girl asked.

"It's nothing..." the fox demon said, "Are you going to ask your questions or are we just going to argue about our caretakers?"

Rin was kind of suprised that he asked about her questions, "Um, you kind of of answered them already, but since you asked, what were you going to say?"

"I said it was nothing all right." he said sounding annoyed, "why do you care anyway, it's not like you knew Inuyasha anyway."

"Maybe not as well as you but he protected Kagome and me from the demon that was after us after I was kidnapped." she said.

"Kidnapped?" he said.

"Yeah, it was after we all split up against the undead army when father and Inuyasha weren't there with us." she explained.

"Undead army..." Shippo thought once again about what she was talking about, "Oh, I think I remember that now... wait did you say father?"

She nodded, "Well he saved me and took me in and protected me."

"That brings me to another question." he said.

"I don't think so, you've been asking all of the questions so far, and now it's my turn now." she said.

"I thought you said I answered all of them." he retorted.

"Well I thought of some more." she replied.

He sighed, "Fine, whatever."

"What are you doing alone?" she asked.

Shippo raised an eyebrow, "What kind of stupid question is that, a lot of demons are alone."

"You know what I mean, why aren't you with the others?" the girl asked. Shippo knew what she meant now, but was confused. Did Sesshomaru ever mention that day to her or even that toad that's with him all the time? Even so, he still didn't want to talk about that again after just telling Myoga the previous day, especially to Sesshomaru's ally.

"I don't want to talk about it." Shippo said in his normal coolish tone.

"What, you said you'd answer what I had to ask." she protested, "And I answered some of your questions, and you haven't even answered one yet."

"Well this question I don't want to answer." he said back. Rin started to worry.

"Did.. something happen to them?" she asked. Thinking back on it now, it was probably too obvious that he said that, but what other choice did he have?

"I said I didn't want to talk about it." he said. Rin started to get mad and got closer to his face.

"Listen you, I may not have been as close to them as you were, but I still considered them friends, and I care to know what happened to my friends." she said with her nose against his, glaring at him. Shippo didn't feel threatened at all, but thought of what she said.

"Back off." he said plainly. She got angrier.

"What did you say!?" she yelled.

"I meant your head..." he said. She realized how close to his face she was with hers and back away immediatly with a blush.

"Oh, heh heh, sorry." she apoligized.

He ignored her sudden nervousness, "I might as well tell you, even though I though Sesshomaru would have told you. It's better I told it to someone that knew them anyway."

Shippo retold the story to Rin in the exact words he told Myoga; about the battle aftermath, and about the sword he found. She started to feel sad to the point were she had tears after she heard what happened to everyone.

"Th-th-their gone..." Rin said with tears rolling slowly out of her eyes.

"_Saw this comming._" Shippo rolled his eyes at her actions, "They were gone for 15 years, I thought Sesshomaru would have told you that already."

She sniffled, "No, he didn't tell me anything about the battle except that he was gone, along with the others..."

Shippo took note of that last part she said instantly, "Are you really that clueless, along with the others." he said with the last part slowly to make sure she understood. She started to think about it, but none the less still tearing.

"I thought.. he meant Narakus allies." she said trying to wipe her tears away.

"_Hmmm... I didn't think of that, but I doubt he would of mentioned them if it were his allies._" he looked over at Rin who was still crying. "You know, crying about this now doesn't do anything, and it won't bring them back. Besides it's been 15 years, no use for crying over it so late."

"Well I would of done it sooner if I actually knew about it!" she shouted in tears, "Besides, you sounded a lot more sad in your story than I am right now. I'm aware that you knew them longer and I just found out they passed on, but you cried once too."

Shippo sighed, "Whatever, none the less, I rather be in the rain then in here if you plan to cry the whole time."

"Shippo.." Rin said making him turn to her. She looked at him, his long hair, his face, his expression. It looked cold, it kind of reminded her of her father, except she couldn't help but feel there was sadness in his eyes.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Are you still sad about what happened to them?" she asked, "I know what it's like to lose my family. I lost my family to bandits when I was younger and father took me in. For you it's different, you lost your family twice, it must be really hard."

"How did you know?" he asked.

"You're a fox demon, and were traveling with a half demon, three humans, and a cat demon. You probably could of figured out I lost my family when I am with father right now." she explained.

"Yeah, probably." he responded.

"So, are you?" she asked again.

"Why would I tell you?" he said.

"Because I saved your life." she said.

"I never told you to save me, you just did it." he said.

"So I should of left you to die, is that what you're saying?" she asked a little irritated.

"Honestly, I might of been off better dead." he said coldly. She stared at him in disbelief.

"Shippo..." she said softly.

"I saw them... I could of been with them..."

"Them?" she questioned.

"Inuyasha, Kagome, the rest of them, I could of been with them. When I thought I was dead, I saw them, I even saw my parents. They all looked so happy.

Rin was a bit shocked, "Shippo, it could of all just have been a dream you know."

"It could have... but it felt real... I was going toward the light where I saw them, then all of a sudden I began to fall in a dark void. That's all I remember, then I woke up." he explained what happend after he was beaten by the lightining demon.

"Would you have.. would you have prefered to die over being alive right now?" she asked more seriously. Shippo looked at the ground and thought about it. After thinking about it, he wasn't sure.

He didn't bother to look at the girl sitting across from him, "I just don't know anymore."

**...Well this is awkward, not posting a chapter in a month or so... To be truthful, I don't know why it took so long to write it, I just didn't seem to be in the spirit or something, it's weird. I'm sorry it took so long. I might as well say some other things while I'm at it. I don't know if I'm going to be able to update every week after taking so long just to get this chapter up. I think I'm going to take my mind off of this story for a good month, then I can update as much as I want when summer break is here. **

**I never thought I would have to do this, but I have no choice. My other two stories: "Born in Another Time, and The Hearts of Our Family are as of this moment, cancelled. I just don't see myself updating those stories. For one thing, maybe the sequel was a bad idea, and I should of went along with what one of my commenters told me and just stick with that story and leave it. As for the school one, I just don't know where I am going with that one. Plus I started those pretty early, and they were kind of odd. Don't completely lose hope. In the summer I may update those stories again, but as of now, I'm just not planning on updating them. **

**I wasn't sure if I should be saying this, or keep it a suprise, but what the heck. I'm going to be starting a new story, this time, it's not a Shippo story, or an Inuyasha one at that. It's not my Mario story either that I am trying to plan. This story has one similarity; it's about a fox. It's not going to be about Naruto though... I probably couldn't write a good Naruto fic to save my life. This story is about my second favorite game character besides Mario... Tails, from Sonic the hedgehog. Another similarity is it's another Action/Adventure/Romance. I have the summary and plot kind of worked out, but you'll just have to wait and see. **

**Something tells me I'm going to be writing stories about fictional fox creatures, and action/adventure/romance stories forever. Nothing wrong with that, but that's all I've written about so far. I guess I'm in the Fox/Action/Adventure/Romance category of writing. **

**So I guess that's it for now people that read this, and if they haven't deserted me, which you have, I don't blame you. Well, for now, see yaz!**


End file.
